Nikolai Lobachevsky

Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (December 1, 1792 – February 24, 1856 (N.S.); November 20, 1792 – February 12, 1856 (O.S.)) was a Russian mathematician and geometer, renowned primarily for his pioneering works on hyperbolic geometry, otherwise known as Lobachevskian geometry. William Kingdon Clifford called Lobachevsky the "Copernicus of Geometry" due to the revolutionary character of his work.

Sources:

1.) Bardi, Jason (2008). The Fifth Postulate: How Unraveling a Two Thousand Year Old Mystery Unraveled the Universe. John Wiley & Sons. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-470-46736-7. "His stubbornness, reported atheism, and genius supported his rise as a champion of the proletariat. To the Soviets, Lobachevsky represented not just the greatness of the common man, emerging from a humble background as he did, he also was a revolutionary of sorts."

2.) "The History of Science". Soviet Science. Taylor & Francis. p. 329. "Though Lobachevsky appears to have invented non- Euclidean geometry without the help of the Almighty, he built a church on the instructions of the University council. It is said that he was an atheist."